Motorists using the Western Express Highway (WEH) finally have a reason to smile. The Mumbai Metro-politan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is planning to throw open the southbound lanes of the Kherwadi junction flyover on Monday evening.

With MMRDA set to throw open the south-bound stretch of the flyover, traffic chaos at Kherwadi junction is likely to be a thing of the past

A senior MMRDA official said, “The work on the southbound stretch of the Kherwadi flyover is nearing completion and the final touches like painting of the safety walls and lane marking are in progress. Though the final date of the inauguration is yet to be finalised, we are hopeful of throwing it open on Monday.”

On inspecting the flyover yesterday, this correspondent found that asphalting of the road on the southbound was complete constructed and the lanes were marked. Installat-ion of crash barriers and construction of the safety wall was underway on a particular stretch.

An MMRDA official, who was present at the site, said, “Installation of crash barriers will be done and the safety wall will ready by Sunday evening, after which the flyover can be thrown open for public use.”

Freeway gets longerThe 2.8-km-long Panjarpol-Ghatkopar Link Road (PGLR), part of the Eastern Freeway Project will also be thrown open to the public on Monday.

This will aid connectivity between east and south Mumbai. The 16.4-km-long Eastern Freeway is divided into three phases — Orange gate to Anik Junction (9.3 km), Anik Junction to Panjarpol Link Road (4.3 km) and Panjarpol to Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road (2.8 km).

While the MMRDA opened the 13.6-km stretch from Orange Gate to Panjarpol, the 2.8-km stretch from Panjarpol to GMLR was expected to open by May 15. But the pending work delayed its inauguration.